Ooh La La...

I have been collecting pictures of my dream dresses for forever, it seems like. Almost all of the dresses I love are either all lace, have some lace on them, and are V-neck. I do love wearing strapless dresses, but I just am in love with the way a V-neck wedding gown looks. I absolutely love lace, and am thinking about making it sort of a "theme" in the wedding. Erin at Blue Eyed Bride had the most beautiful lace motif on her wedding stationery! Lace just has that wonderful old heirloom feeling to me and I would love to have a gown that felt that way, too.

Here are a few of my favorites!

Justin Alexander

Lazaro

Jim Hjelm

Alita Graham: Kleinfeld Exclusive

And now for my absolute favorite, if I ever got this I would never take it off, makes me drool, I hear angels singing, and get goosebumps everytime I look at it, dress...
Oh, Anne Barge, how I love you...

The price listed on The Knot is $$$$$ (which most definitely probably is not in my budget.) I'm wondering if the gown could be recreated using lace from my mother's gown? That would be ideal!

Anne Barge

I'm alive! I promise!

I've been so busy since we got engaged that I haven't gotten to make a trip to Barnes and Noble to drown myself in wedding books!

I finally was able to go on Sunday night, and oh boy, did I have fun.

Everytime I'm in Barnes and Noble, I look at every wedding book/magazine I can get my hands on...but now that I'm actually planning a real live wedding, it was like Heaven in there! (it doesn't take a lot to thrill me)

I knew I needed some type of wedding planning notebook, and I originally thought I would just make my own. I found one that isn't so pretty on the outside, but had lots of helpful stuff on the inside! I think I might take all of the "guts" out, go through them and decide what stuff I really need and make my own personalized notebook. Between the pages from my new planner and the free templates/tools from russell + hazel and Martha Stewart Weddings, I will have the most organized planner ever!

It was also the perfect day to go because the new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine came out that weekend. I spent the rest of the night pouring over it and there were so many things in it that make me drool (Martha never fails!) All of the personalization definitely made this my favorite issue yet.

I don't have much exciting news as far as wedding planning is concerned, but we are going to visit a potential reception venue on Saturday morning before Joe's game, and the church we are hoping we will have the ceremony on Sunday morning! I am super excited!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week! Wofford's Homecoming is this weekend and we are playing the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Go Terriers!

PS. Thanks to the oh-so-sweet Blue-Eyed Bride for picking my picture as a runner-up in her Blurb contest! Check out the other beautiful pictures! I absolutely love her blog, and she was my inspiration in starting my own!

Allison Elizabeth Photography!

I was so excited when I came upon Allison's website! She is such a sweetheart and I loved getting to know her while I was in high school! She just graduated from Liberty University and has such a talent for photography! She just started her business, and I wish her all the luck in the world! I know it will do great! I have been searching for someone special to do our engagement pictures, and as soon as I saw her pictures, I knew she was the one!

She had a photo shoot with her brother and his girlfriend and the pictures are adorable! We are doing ours in downtown Greenville sometime in January. I can't wait! :)

Check out her website!

www.allisonelizabethphoto.com

...and her blog!

www.allisonelizabethphoto.blogspot.com

Go Wofford!

I'm off to Statesboro, Georgia for the weekend to cheer on the Terriers and my sweet fiance (!!!!!!!!!) ; so wish them luck! :)

My Dream Wedding!

I have been saving pictures in a folder named "Wedding Ideas" for years (but I never kept up with where they came from...woops!) and I put together 25 of my most favorite ones that I felt could sum up my dream southern wedding. Looking at this just makes me drool!

My Life has a Soundtrack

My friends Meredith and Marian Bryce were talking about how I get lucky because the most perfect songs come out and time up perfectly with things happening in my life. Taylor Swift's new song "Love Story" quickly became my new favorite song and we listened to it on repeat all the way to Columbia this past weekend. Yes, we are a little obsessed. It is now extra special after the proposal, so I just had to share it! It gives me goosebumps every time I hear it! :)

Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring,

And said,

Marry me Juliet you'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know
I talked to your dad, you'll pick out a white dress
It's a love story baby just say yes

...Baby Just Say YES!

I have become such a big Wofford football fan over the past couple of years since Joe is on the team, so I was extremely excited about the game against the University of South Carolina. It is also a special game to us because Wofford played USC the day after we re-met two years ago. My family, Joe's family, the Walter's from Lake City, and some friends of mine were all tailgating together in Stadium Place at USC and I was so happy to have everyone together! Our two year anniversary was coming up on the Monday after the game, and Joe told me on Friday that he invited some of my friends from Simpsonville to come to the game with us.

Tailgating before the game!

Joe and me right after the game

After getting lost 50 billion times on the way to the game, we finally arrived. We had a beautiful black and gold tailgate spread and had so much fun being together! The game was so much fun (even though Wofford barely lost) and I was excited for Joe to come back to our tailgate. We stood around for a little while, then he asked me to follow him over to where his parents car was parked. He opened the driver's side door and I saw a white ring box sitting on the seat. I immediately new what was going on! He held my hands and told me how much he loves me and that he wants to spend the rest of his life with me because I make him the happiest guy on earth. He dropped down on one knee, slipped the ring on my finger, and asked, "Will you marry me?" I was sobbing and saying "Are you serious? Are you serious??", but I managed to squeak out a "YES!" and hugged my new fiance! (Ahhhh!) I turned around and saw that everyone at the tailgate was cheering and taking pictures!

Joe proposing!

I was a little excited.

Joe's parents brought champagne and we had some of the sweetest toasts. I am so lucky to have someone who loves me so much, and also to be a part of his loving family! I could not have asked for anything more! Combining football, family and friends, and our love was the perfect way to start off our engagement!

The whole gang (minus Mere and Nicholas) after the proposal

It's a Love Story...

Let’s start from the beginning...

I was a freshman at Converse College and had just gone through a breakup; so I was down in the dumps on Valentine’s Day. My good friend Meredith decided that we needed to get out and have fun instead of drowning in our single sorrows. We went to a Valentine’s party at Wofford College and were having such a great time! Meredith was off talking to someone, and a boy (looking very out of place) wearing a high school letterman’s jacket caught my eye. I made my way through the crowd to say hello. Turns out, he was a high school senior from up north and was on a recruiting visit to play football at Wofford. He was such a cutie; I was instantly smitten! We talked for a little while, but the night was coming to an end and we parted ways without exchanging information. (dumb!) I forgot his name before we even left. Over the next few months, I bugged Meredith constantly asking, “Remember that cute high school boy at the party? I wish I knew his name! Do you think he’ll come to Wofford??”

Here's Joe (on the right) in his sweet little jacket that night (haha!)

Fast forward to the next fall…

One night, we were at the same fraternity house at Wofford that hosted the Valentine’s party the previous semester. I was sitting on the back porch talking to some friends, and “high school boy” walked in the back door. I have never been so surprised in my entire life. He instantly recognized me and came over to where I was. We talked the whole night and shared stories about how we had both been thinking about each other since his recruiting visit and wondering if we would see each other again.

Our first picture!

It is so crazy how things work out; we have been together ever since!

Next up, the proposal story…

I'm engaged!

Joe proposed on Saturday night, and I could not be any happier! Not only am I going to marry the love of my life...but I get to start a wedding blog! YESSSSS!!!! Details on the proposal to come soon!